Silvio Berlusconi to go on trial over £2.5m 'bribe' to opposition defector

Former prime minister accused of bribing Left-wing politician to switch sides,
paving way for 2008 coalition collapse and his subsequent re-election

Silvio Berlusconi is accused of giving a £2.5m bribe to an opposition politician to switch sidesPhoto: EPA/ANGELO CARCONI

By Nick Squires, Rome

2:08PM GMT 10 Feb 2014

As Silvio Berlusconi tries to engineer a political comeback two months after being expelled from parliament, he faces a fresh blow – the start of a trial in which he is accused of giving a €3 million (£2.5m) bribe to an opposition politician to switch sides.

The huge payment ensured the defection of Sergio De Gregorio, a senator with the centre-Left Italy of Values party, to Mr Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party.

The defection helped bring about the collapse of a centre-Left coalition led by Romano Prodi and paved the way for Mr Berlusconi to win elections in 2008, becoming Italy’s prime minister for the third time.

De Gregorio has already admitted that he took the bribe from Mr Berlusconi and struck a plea bargain in which he was sentenced to one year and eight months in jail.

The trial will start on Tuesday in Naples, where De Gregorio hails from.

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Among the witnesses who prosecutors will call will be Mr Prodi, the former prime minister, as well as Antonio Di Pietro, the former head of the Italy of Values party.

Mr Berlusconi, 77, has been caught up in multiple court cases since entering politics 20 years ago.

He is due to start serving 12 months’ social service later this year after being definitively convicted of massive tax fraud relating to the purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset television company.

Last year he was found guilty of paying for sex with an underage prostitute, a nightclub dancer nicknamed Ruby the Heart Stealer, as well as a related charge of abuse of office.

He was given a seven-year prison sentence but has launched an appeal and remains at liberty until the appeals process is exhausted – which in Italy can take years.

He faces yet another trial over allegations that he paid more than 40 actresses, showgirls, MPs and others to give false evidence in the sex trial.

Among those accused of lying in court are topless models, a Neapolitan crooner with whom Mr Berlusconi has recorded CDs of sentimental love songs, and MPs and MEPs from his centre-Right party.

Karima El Mahroug, the Moroccan-born erotic dancer whom he was accused of paying for sex, is also under investigation for giving false evidence.

Mr Berlusconi was expelled from parliament in November as a consequence of the tax fraud conviction.

Despite being deprived of his seat in the Senate, he remains in the frontline of politics and recently hammered out a deal to reform Italy’s electoral law with Matteo Renzi, the leader of the centre-Left Democratic Party and a widely-tipped future prime minister.